The semiconductor integrated circuit (IC) industry has experienced rapid growth. Technological advances in IC materials and design have produced generations of ICs. Each generation has smaller and more complex circuits than the previous generation. In the course of IC evolution, functional density (i.e., the number of interconnected devices per chip area) has generally increased while geometric size (i.e., the smallest component (or line) that can be created using a fabrication process) has decreased.
This scaling-down process generally provides benefits by increasing production efficiency and lowering associated costs. However, these advances have increased the complexity of processing and manufacturing ICs. For example, III-V compound semiconductors are potential channel materials for future CMOS devices because of their high mobility and low carrier effective mass.
It is a challenge to form reliable semiconductor devices that include III-V compound semiconductors.